While major Big Box retailers have struggled to keep pace with consumer-driven demands for instant gratification, Sears Holdings has come up with new innovations to anticipate and serve shoppers with a new one-day ground delivery service supported by a dynamic DC network.

When an industry is changing rapidly, companies must adapt in order to survive. In this whitepaper, a global publisher was seeking a partner that could mitigate risk and build a platform flexible enough for their shifting customer expectations. The solution enabled the company to rewrite their operations game plan and transform their supply chain.

Join our panel of leading economic and transportation analysts as they share their exclusive insight on where rates are headed and the issues that will be driving those rate increases over the next 12 months.

Carload volume—at 302,500—was up 2.1 percent annually and was behind the week ending October 1, which hit 312,170 carloads, and is the highest weekly carload mark for 2011, according to AAR data. The prior two weeks hit 305,133 and 305,905, respectively.

Eastern carloads were up 2.2 percent, and out west carloads were up 2.2 percent. On a year-to-date basis, carloads—at 11,631,650—are up 1.8 percent.

Intermodal volumes at 241,999 trailers and containers were down from the week ending October 1, which hit 250,864 for the highest weekly total for 2011 and highest weekly tally since week 39 of 2007. The week ending September was the previous 2011 high at 248,402.

Intermodal volumes for 9,123,225 trailers and containers for the year-to-date are 5.4 percent ahead of last year’s pace. Shippers continue to turn to intermodal as an alternative to trucking movements, as they can see significant fuel savings in exchange for a longer transit time.

Of the 20 commodity groups tracked by the AAR, 11 were up annually. Petroleum products were up 28.3 percent, and non-metallic minerals were up 19.6 percent.

Estimated ton miles for the week at 36.2 billion were up 3.4 percent and for the year-to-date, they were up 2.8 percent at 1,315.4 billion.

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When an industry is changing rapidly, companies must adapt in order to survive. In this whitepaper, a global publisher was seeking a partner that could mitigate risk and build a platform flexible enough for their shifting customer expectations. The solution enabled the company to rewrite their operations game plan and transform their supply chain.

While it is already reaping myriad benefits from ORION (On-Road Integrated Optimization and Navigation), a proprietary routing platform for its drivers rolled out in late 2013, transportation and logistics bellwether UPS announced big plans for the technology this week.